So I pick up my son from school yesterday afternoon and on the way home, drop by the local Tim Horton's (it's like the Dunkin' Donuts in the U.S.). I didn't really feel like buying anything for me, and didn't want to stuff him with greasy donuts and such, so I decided to get him a TimBit, which is essentially made of the same stuff as donuts, but it is round, the size, shape, and look of a ping pong ball. The beginnings of this, from what I recall reading about it, is that these Timbits represented the stuff that was supposed to be in the center of the donut (hence, the hole).
Anyhow, Timbits are 10 cents each. I felt like an idiot going through the drive-thru to buy one single Timbit, but at least it's a little less embarrassing since you can at least use your car's sun visor to shield your face, as the employees wonder about how cheap you are. Anyway, I pull up, order a Timbit as I shout into the microphone box (I always do this since I wonder if they hear me at all), and they say "is that all, sir?" and I reluctantly said, "yep". I pull up and see that they packed the one Timbit in a little bag as the lady looks at me with a "thanks for wasting my time" look. I fish into my pockets to dig up the 10 cents+tax (think it was 11 cents or something), but as I took out the coins, I found a nickel and three pennies in my pocket. I continue to fish in my jacket and slide my hand under the driver's seat to fish for coins and check the coin box and door handle jamb thing, check my seat to make sure I wasn't sitting on anything (though I suppose to a casual observer I probably look like I was wiping my bum). When I realized I did not have the required change, I shrug my shoulders at the lady, say "really sorry about this" as I look in my rearview mirror and see about six cars lined up behind me, and floor the gas, not looking back at what must be the look of bewilderment on the lady's face. I didn't even have enough to pay for a Timbit. How embarrassing. Thankfully my son was looking out the other window at something in the trees and missed the lowlight of my Tim Horton's experience.
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
God and Money
If there is one thing with which most Christians grapple, it is the whole issue of money management, or financial stewardship. I have read countless books on personal finance and wealth management, and while I agree with much of the practical outcroppings of how to invest and how to save, ultimately for me it comes down to a simple governing principle that I have seen work again and again...and it will again. This is my philosophy (my own words) when it comes to money, and it is not shared by too many people I know:
The money I have is not mine; it was entrusted to me by God to use as wisely as I can. God can give you more, give you less, bless you with an abundance, or take it all away. In the end, the only thing we can do is be good stewards of what He has given us, while at the same time, simply earnestly trusting Him to provide for us on a daily basis.
What I wrote above is nothing new. It is my own way of re-phrasing a principle, which is essentially scattered throughout the Bible. While the topic of money tends to be a thorny topic that no one likes to talk about, I don't think it needs to be seen as a contentious issue either. There are some issues about which I feel strongly, when it comes to money management (such as farting it away via gambling, lottery tickets, and what not - in my view, this is not a healthy stewardship of money or wealth), but most times, I think that money can be discussed in an open dialogue, even amongst those who may disagree.
I'll start the dialogue with several things for you to think about:
1) To whom does our money belong? Put this in light of the fact that we all die and as the old saying goes, "we can't take it with us".
2) Why do you think people are so concerned with money? The saving of it. The spending of it. The hoarding of it. The lusting after it. What do you think are the root issues behind some of these practices?
3) What do you feel are some perceptions about money in general? That is, whether you have it or don't have it?
I am not planning to answer any of the above questions here in this blog entry - just something for you to think about.
As a Christian, I obviously base my view of money management on my worldview, which is very strongly shaped by my understanding of what the Bible says. Don't get me wrong, though - I tend to worry about finances from time to time as well (whether needlessly or otherwise), but my overarching principle is based on my sincere belief that God is ultimately in control of my finances and while His Word sheds or gleans some principles from which I can learn how to be a good steward of it, ultimately through experiences I have had, I can see His providence again and again.
I'll dissect all of this now...
Yesterday, my wife had a bit of a surprise when one of her long standing clients informed her that she will no longer be a client of her business, as of the end of this week. That is pretty short notice. I suspect our client's decision has a bit to do with the fact that she will be taking some time off next year once our new child is born. But in my wife's profession, client turnover is not to be unexpected, and in a way, we didn't really expect this.
However, as we chatted on the couch yesterday afternoon, it was clear that her absence would obviously have an impact on our finances. A big impact, considering she was my wife's biggest client (read: largest paycheque). As a result, as is normal amongst married couples who go through financial crunches, we had a discussion about how we will make it through this unexpected drop in revenue (and subsequently, profits) at a time that was a lot sooner than either one of us would have expected. My wife was naturally worried about how we would make it through the next few months, and I can certainly understand the anxiety something like this would bring. Of course, this is also in light of the fact that I got swindled for $600.00 through a paypal chargeback scheme two months ago, and the fact that I am leery on selling anything using paypal these days - of course, that has dropped my supplementary income significantly.
For whatever reason, I was not overly worried, and I really tried to encourage my wife not to worry as well, but you know how it is - money matters create great anxiety amongst people and understandably so. But thankfully, with some quick memory exercises, I managed to look at this in an overall perspective, based on my past experiences.
First, this is nothing new. We went through something similar back in 2002 when my wife was pregnant with our first son - back then, I remember using Microsoft Money as well as a tedious Excel spreadsheet that I kept, tracking our finances. Based on my salary at the time, plus my wife's maternity benefits, which were only a fraction of her salary at the time, we compared it to our expenses, and concluded that on paper, anyway, that we would be in the RED by about $800-$900 dollars per month. That is a pretty significant loss of income. Add to that the fact that we had an absolutely crappy automobile (which cost us $5,500.00 to buy in 2000, but by 2002, had cost us $6,400.00 in repair costs) that was sucking the financial life out of our family savings program, it wasn't looking good. The car was likely not a good idea for a vehicle in which to carry a new baby (due to its history of being very unreliable and dying in the most inopportune of places), so we needed a new car, especially with the winter coming). We were SOOOO stressed at the time, and we ended up, as a last resort (not as a first) to laying all of our financial burdens at God's feet, and asking Him to take over, since there was no way we would be able to survive, given this enormous shortfall.
You'll never guess what happened next.
The day after, I sat down in my room and prayed for a way to get rid of the money-eating car, and find some way to pay for a new one that was more reliable. Given the enormous amount of repairs on it, I doubt that anyone would pay the $3200.00 for which we had listed it. I was trying to find some free way to list the car, and somehow found this site, which I have never seen or heard of: http://www.usedcarsontario.com. I listed the car, with no photos (since I didn't have a digital camera at the time nor did I have a regular camera) at around 1:10PM in the afternoon. Within 30 minutes of me listing the car, I got one phone call (and just so you know, he was the only one who called throughout the whole process) from a guy named Reza, who was interested in the car, but he expected me to run it through the standard safety inspection and emissions test, which was common for sellers to pay to have done. I said, no problem. I brought it to the garage, and to my horror (though if I was thinking straight at the time, I should not have been surprised), it failed both the safety inspection and the emissions tests. I paid to have it restested by another garage, and it failed again. Cost was basically $1900.00 to repair to the point where the car will pass the safety and emissions test. I knew that Reza would back out once I told him of the repair costs, since I didn't have the money to cover it, and I certainly didn't expect him to cover it - plus, he probably thought, "what a piece of junk" and back out from the deal. To my surprise, he contemplated it for a while, and then came back and said, "tell you what, why don't we each pay half." I was shocked. Here was a guy who is looking to buy a car which I honestly have told him has had some problems, and on the safety/emissions, he offered to pay half of the repair costs. I was surprised, and said, "sure", and that was that, and I sold the car, and got some money for it. It turns out that had he not called (remember, he was the only one who responded to my ad), the car would have been valued at far less, and with the repairs, it would have been a simple write-off, and I wouldn't have made anything off of it, and would have been out a vehicle.
Now, skeptics out there may think, "this is just co-incidence, that you prayed and then you were unable to make some money off your car." Hold on...it gets better.
The following week, I get my gas bill from Enbridge (gas company) - with a note saying that they have, for whatever reason, overcharged us five months worth of gas bills. As a result, I won't have to pay the gas bill for five months (and remember, this was around November, so basically, I didn't have to pay the gas bill for much of the winter, when the gas bill would have been through the roof due to natural gas for the furnace and hot water tank). OK, you may still think this is all a coincidence...I'm not done yet...
Over the course of the winter, I discovered that I was going to be receiving a bonus from work. Then, that summer, I got perhaps one the biggest salary raises that I have ever experienced - about a 19.3% in my salary. That was very rare those days for employers to award such a large salary increase. But I receive it, and was very surprised. Could this have been coincidence as well, given all the other things so far? I have more...
A year after we got our nice little surprise on the bill from Enbridge, my wife gets a call from the bank. Our son was born, and he was about 8 months old or so. She calls me in the car, and I still remember where I was (driving northbound through the Steeles / McCowan intersection of northern Toronto). She said she needs to talk to me, so I need to stop off somewhere. Incidentally, I ended up stopping in the parking lot of a Chinese church, of all places, just north of the intersection. She told me the following: "the bank has called and indicated to me that our interest rate for our mortgage was way too much, and as a result, they would like to lower it. No strings attached."
Now, let me ask you - have you EVER heard of a bank wanting to lower your mortgage rate, no strings attached? Our mortgage was not even up for renewal and would not have been for another 2.5 years. Our rate back then was 7.25, and we ended up getting it lowered to 5.44%, which, if you know anything about mortgage rates, is a tremendous reduction, saving us thousands over the course of a year.
All of the above in the span of a year. Not to mention, we got back more on our taxes that year than we thought, and a year later, I would have a chance encounter with someone at work, with whom I never talk about personal things, but we managed to meet up in the cafeteria, and he introduced me to a group insurance company for car/home, and since I signed up, have saved literally over $1400.00 a year since 2004. Interestingly enough, shortly after our conversation, he was moved to a different account and I have not seen him since.
In the whole time during this stress period, we continued to tithe, even though is seemed, logically, to be counter-productive to our cost-savings practices. Yet, despite all of this, we managed to pay our bills, and even had a lot of money left in order to contribute to retirement savings investments. To this day, I can analyze our books back then, and I just have no idea where the money seemed to come from. Well, I do know, but I don't understand how it happened.
Since that time, God has honoured our desire for my wife to stay home and raise our son, but providing the opportunity to run a small business on the side that will allow her to stay home and also generate some extra revenue. I have also been blessed with some supplementary income through eBay and now's Craigslist, that has made me a LOT of money over the years. And I am still at my current job, and have been here for 10 years now, next month. I am not independently wealthy, but I'm not starving either, if you know what I mean. There are those who rabidly argue that it is not possible for a mother to stay home with her child in this day and age - we would disagree with that and have shown that it can be done - sure it's tougher, but it's well worth it to raise a well-adjusted, disciplined child, who knows love from his parents (as you can tell, I'm not a fan of children-in-daycare for our kids - this is another discussion altogether on another blog post that I may do in the future).
So when I see another financial crunch coming in the future, I tend not to worry (I'm not saying I won't, just that I tend not to). Much of this is due to seeing how God has taken care of us over the years, and have not only provided for us, but have blessed us in abundance financially. When things aren't looking that rosy ahead, I would just encourage you to look back to see how God has brought you to this point, and just continue to trust Him for your ongoing needs. He does provide. This is not just a theory they float on Sunday mornings. It is true. We've experienced it.
Now, let's move from my own experience to what I understand the Bible says about money management, and I'm not talking about investment principles here, as important as they are.
I've said this before in my blog entry discussing gambling, but it's worth it to repeat - the Bible references the topic of money/wealth/investing/financial stewardship more often than any other topic, including heaven/hell combined. God, in His wisdom, knew that people would struggle over money, so he had a lot to say about it, since he knew people would face all sorts of financial anxieties in the future.
It is interesting to note that in the book of Malachi, God challenges people to test Him when it comes to money (while I am no Biblical scholar, I believe this is the only place in the Bible where God has challenged people to test Him). There are many parables amount money, there are a lot of principles about wealth management gleaned from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Not just money, but possessions as well, since we know that satan is constantly on the prowl looking to entrap people with wealth. One thing to remember, and then I have to abruptly finish this blog entry, since I am suffering carpel tunnel syndrome right now - remember that the Bible is NOT against wealth. The Bible is not anti-money. When people quote the Bible (1 Timothy, I think) and say that "Money is the Root of All Evil", that is completely incorrect. What the passage says is "The Love of Money is the Root of All Evil" (emphasis mine). This is consistent with what it says in Luke about not being able to serve two masters - you either serve God or money. Money is not the problem. Being a slave to it, or lusting after it, is. By keeping a proper perspective of what money is, how is it obtained, and where it comes from, it will help to prevent such a "I love money" mentality from forming, and I do believe, that, just like all things, if you put God's will ahead of your own in your life, and trust in Him to provide for you (Matthew 6:25-34), He will keep his promises and supply all your needs, monetary or otherwise.
The money I have is not mine; it was entrusted to me by God to use as wisely as I can. God can give you more, give you less, bless you with an abundance, or take it all away. In the end, the only thing we can do is be good stewards of what He has given us, while at the same time, simply earnestly trusting Him to provide for us on a daily basis.
What I wrote above is nothing new. It is my own way of re-phrasing a principle, which is essentially scattered throughout the Bible. While the topic of money tends to be a thorny topic that no one likes to talk about, I don't think it needs to be seen as a contentious issue either. There are some issues about which I feel strongly, when it comes to money management (such as farting it away via gambling, lottery tickets, and what not - in my view, this is not a healthy stewardship of money or wealth), but most times, I think that money can be discussed in an open dialogue, even amongst those who may disagree.
I'll start the dialogue with several things for you to think about:
1) To whom does our money belong? Put this in light of the fact that we all die and as the old saying goes, "we can't take it with us".
2) Why do you think people are so concerned with money? The saving of it. The spending of it. The hoarding of it. The lusting after it. What do you think are the root issues behind some of these practices?
3) What do you feel are some perceptions about money in general? That is, whether you have it or don't have it?
I am not planning to answer any of the above questions here in this blog entry - just something for you to think about.
As a Christian, I obviously base my view of money management on my worldview, which is very strongly shaped by my understanding of what the Bible says. Don't get me wrong, though - I tend to worry about finances from time to time as well (whether needlessly or otherwise), but my overarching principle is based on my sincere belief that God is ultimately in control of my finances and while His Word sheds or gleans some principles from which I can learn how to be a good steward of it, ultimately through experiences I have had, I can see His providence again and again.
I'll dissect all of this now...
Yesterday, my wife had a bit of a surprise when one of her long standing clients informed her that she will no longer be a client of her business, as of the end of this week. That is pretty short notice. I suspect our client's decision has a bit to do with the fact that she will be taking some time off next year once our new child is born. But in my wife's profession, client turnover is not to be unexpected, and in a way, we didn't really expect this.
However, as we chatted on the couch yesterday afternoon, it was clear that her absence would obviously have an impact on our finances. A big impact, considering she was my wife's biggest client (read: largest paycheque). As a result, as is normal amongst married couples who go through financial crunches, we had a discussion about how we will make it through this unexpected drop in revenue (and subsequently, profits) at a time that was a lot sooner than either one of us would have expected. My wife was naturally worried about how we would make it through the next few months, and I can certainly understand the anxiety something like this would bring. Of course, this is also in light of the fact that I got swindled for $600.00 through a paypal chargeback scheme two months ago, and the fact that I am leery on selling anything using paypal these days - of course, that has dropped my supplementary income significantly.
For whatever reason, I was not overly worried, and I really tried to encourage my wife not to worry as well, but you know how it is - money matters create great anxiety amongst people and understandably so. But thankfully, with some quick memory exercises, I managed to look at this in an overall perspective, based on my past experiences.
First, this is nothing new. We went through something similar back in 2002 when my wife was pregnant with our first son - back then, I remember using Microsoft Money as well as a tedious Excel spreadsheet that I kept, tracking our finances. Based on my salary at the time, plus my wife's maternity benefits, which were only a fraction of her salary at the time, we compared it to our expenses, and concluded that on paper, anyway, that we would be in the RED by about $800-$900 dollars per month. That is a pretty significant loss of income. Add to that the fact that we had an absolutely crappy automobile (which cost us $5,500.00 to buy in 2000, but by 2002, had cost us $6,400.00 in repair costs) that was sucking the financial life out of our family savings program, it wasn't looking good. The car was likely not a good idea for a vehicle in which to carry a new baby (due to its history of being very unreliable and dying in the most inopportune of places), so we needed a new car, especially with the winter coming). We were SOOOO stressed at the time, and we ended up, as a last resort (not as a first) to laying all of our financial burdens at God's feet, and asking Him to take over, since there was no way we would be able to survive, given this enormous shortfall.
You'll never guess what happened next.
The day after, I sat down in my room and prayed for a way to get rid of the money-eating car, and find some way to pay for a new one that was more reliable. Given the enormous amount of repairs on it, I doubt that anyone would pay the $3200.00 for which we had listed it. I was trying to find some free way to list the car, and somehow found this site, which I have never seen or heard of: http://www.usedcarsontario.com. I listed the car, with no photos (since I didn't have a digital camera at the time nor did I have a regular camera) at around 1:10PM in the afternoon. Within 30 minutes of me listing the car, I got one phone call (and just so you know, he was the only one who called throughout the whole process) from a guy named Reza, who was interested in the car, but he expected me to run it through the standard safety inspection and emissions test, which was common for sellers to pay to have done. I said, no problem. I brought it to the garage, and to my horror (though if I was thinking straight at the time, I should not have been surprised), it failed both the safety inspection and the emissions tests. I paid to have it restested by another garage, and it failed again. Cost was basically $1900.00 to repair to the point where the car will pass the safety and emissions test. I knew that Reza would back out once I told him of the repair costs, since I didn't have the money to cover it, and I certainly didn't expect him to cover it - plus, he probably thought, "what a piece of junk" and back out from the deal. To my surprise, he contemplated it for a while, and then came back and said, "tell you what, why don't we each pay half." I was shocked. Here was a guy who is looking to buy a car which I honestly have told him has had some problems, and on the safety/emissions, he offered to pay half of the repair costs. I was surprised, and said, "sure", and that was that, and I sold the car, and got some money for it. It turns out that had he not called (remember, he was the only one who responded to my ad), the car would have been valued at far less, and with the repairs, it would have been a simple write-off, and I wouldn't have made anything off of it, and would have been out a vehicle.
Now, skeptics out there may think, "this is just co-incidence, that you prayed and then you were unable to make some money off your car." Hold on...it gets better.
The following week, I get my gas bill from Enbridge (gas company) - with a note saying that they have, for whatever reason, overcharged us five months worth of gas bills. As a result, I won't have to pay the gas bill for five months (and remember, this was around November, so basically, I didn't have to pay the gas bill for much of the winter, when the gas bill would have been through the roof due to natural gas for the furnace and hot water tank). OK, you may still think this is all a coincidence...I'm not done yet...
Over the course of the winter, I discovered that I was going to be receiving a bonus from work. Then, that summer, I got perhaps one the biggest salary raises that I have ever experienced - about a 19.3% in my salary. That was very rare those days for employers to award such a large salary increase. But I receive it, and was very surprised. Could this have been coincidence as well, given all the other things so far? I have more...
A year after we got our nice little surprise on the bill from Enbridge, my wife gets a call from the bank. Our son was born, and he was about 8 months old or so. She calls me in the car, and I still remember where I was (driving northbound through the Steeles / McCowan intersection of northern Toronto). She said she needs to talk to me, so I need to stop off somewhere. Incidentally, I ended up stopping in the parking lot of a Chinese church, of all places, just north of the intersection. She told me the following: "the bank has called and indicated to me that our interest rate for our mortgage was way too much, and as a result, they would like to lower it. No strings attached."
Now, let me ask you - have you EVER heard of a bank wanting to lower your mortgage rate, no strings attached? Our mortgage was not even up for renewal and would not have been for another 2.5 years. Our rate back then was 7.25, and we ended up getting it lowered to 5.44%, which, if you know anything about mortgage rates, is a tremendous reduction, saving us thousands over the course of a year.
All of the above in the span of a year. Not to mention, we got back more on our taxes that year than we thought, and a year later, I would have a chance encounter with someone at work, with whom I never talk about personal things, but we managed to meet up in the cafeteria, and he introduced me to a group insurance company for car/home, and since I signed up, have saved literally over $1400.00 a year since 2004. Interestingly enough, shortly after our conversation, he was moved to a different account and I have not seen him since.
In the whole time during this stress period, we continued to tithe, even though is seemed, logically, to be counter-productive to our cost-savings practices. Yet, despite all of this, we managed to pay our bills, and even had a lot of money left in order to contribute to retirement savings investments. To this day, I can analyze our books back then, and I just have no idea where the money seemed to come from. Well, I do know, but I don't understand how it happened.
Since that time, God has honoured our desire for my wife to stay home and raise our son, but providing the opportunity to run a small business on the side that will allow her to stay home and also generate some extra revenue. I have also been blessed with some supplementary income through eBay and now's Craigslist, that has made me a LOT of money over the years. And I am still at my current job, and have been here for 10 years now, next month. I am not independently wealthy, but I'm not starving either, if you know what I mean. There are those who rabidly argue that it is not possible for a mother to stay home with her child in this day and age - we would disagree with that and have shown that it can be done - sure it's tougher, but it's well worth it to raise a well-adjusted, disciplined child, who knows love from his parents (as you can tell, I'm not a fan of children-in-daycare for our kids - this is another discussion altogether on another blog post that I may do in the future).
So when I see another financial crunch coming in the future, I tend not to worry (I'm not saying I won't, just that I tend not to). Much of this is due to seeing how God has taken care of us over the years, and have not only provided for us, but have blessed us in abundance financially. When things aren't looking that rosy ahead, I would just encourage you to look back to see how God has brought you to this point, and just continue to trust Him for your ongoing needs. He does provide. This is not just a theory they float on Sunday mornings. It is true. We've experienced it.
Now, let's move from my own experience to what I understand the Bible says about money management, and I'm not talking about investment principles here, as important as they are.
I've said this before in my blog entry discussing gambling, but it's worth it to repeat - the Bible references the topic of money/wealth/investing/financial stewardship more often than any other topic, including heaven/hell combined. God, in His wisdom, knew that people would struggle over money, so he had a lot to say about it, since he knew people would face all sorts of financial anxieties in the future.
It is interesting to note that in the book of Malachi, God challenges people to test Him when it comes to money (while I am no Biblical scholar, I believe this is the only place in the Bible where God has challenged people to test Him). There are many parables amount money, there are a lot of principles about wealth management gleaned from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Not just money, but possessions as well, since we know that satan is constantly on the prowl looking to entrap people with wealth. One thing to remember, and then I have to abruptly finish this blog entry, since I am suffering carpel tunnel syndrome right now - remember that the Bible is NOT against wealth. The Bible is not anti-money. When people quote the Bible (1 Timothy, I think) and say that "Money is the Root of All Evil", that is completely incorrect. What the passage says is "The Love of Money is the Root of All Evil" (emphasis mine). This is consistent with what it says in Luke about not being able to serve two masters - you either serve God or money. Money is not the problem. Being a slave to it, or lusting after it, is. By keeping a proper perspective of what money is, how is it obtained, and where it comes from, it will help to prevent such a "I love money" mentality from forming, and I do believe, that, just like all things, if you put God's will ahead of your own in your life, and trust in Him to provide for you (Matthew 6:25-34), He will keep his promises and supply all your needs, monetary or otherwise.
Friday, July 13, 2007
The Christian and Gambling
Since it's wee into the night, I am not sure how much of this I can get done on this topic, but here goes...
Many, many years ago, when we had many more employees at work than we do now, they started a lottery pool (which exists to this day), as typical in many corporate offices, and people pitched in. When I was asked to participate, I politely declined. It wasn't until a few years later that someone approached me and asked why I didn't participate. I simply told them I don't gamble, and they said, "it's not gambling". Well, what can I say? I respectfully disagreed, and responded that what do you call it when you put money into something where the odds are heavily against you that you will get anything back? In my view, this is the opposite of wise investing, where you put your money into something that generally appreciates in value and although there may be slight risk, the general trend of investments tend to rise (I know that there is a grey line here, since some investments are extremely volitile (ie. sector investments), while others are fairly sound (money market, bonds, etc.).
Aside from the addiction part and the documented broken marriages and families arising from gambling's worse by-products (this is not really the scope of this blog entry, so I won't touch it here), my biggest beef with gambling is that it plays on unrealistic hopes and dreams of peple. Notice how the lottery companies will spin this - "what would you do with a million dollars?" Or "imagine the freedom..." Problem is, the chance of winning anything is very, very, very remote. Unfortunately, some people will tend to be so desperate as to try to make money the easy way that they don't think through the process that is working against their favour. My Dad has always taught me that there's no such thing as easy money, and I have seen the truth in that. I literally know people who hinge their future hopes and retirement on "hopefully" winning the lottery. Until then, they keep working, but put away money into lottery tickets. Imagine what they would have if they actually had put that money away in mutual funds or some other appreciating investment, growing their money along the way.
These days, gambling does not simply take the form of slot machines and baccarrat tables at a casino. People can gamble online, through the lottery, sports betting, and the most disturbing trend, the charity lotteries. The justification here is "oh, but I'm supporting a good cause". OK then, how about you simply donate to that charity without going through the lottery? My educated guess is that nine out of ten people will not do that. And I think you know why - they are in it for themselves - to win cars or houses or whatever the charity is giving away via the lottery, under the guise of "supporting a good cause". No different than people giving to churches in order to get a tax receipt (the question is whether you would give to your church if there was no tax benefits for yoruself?) It's sort of like horse racing. I was flipping channels one weekend while my son was sleeping and saw the Kentucky Derby coverage, even though I don't follow horse sports at all. I find it absolutely laughable that they participate in such a ritual like singing some silly song and then watching horses run for less than a 5 minutes. But the place is packed, and you know why? Everyone there is betting on the horses. Take betting out, and how many people would spend a couple of minutes (literally) watching horses run around for the fun of it? Yet, the Derby (and the other Triple Crown events) are made out to be some horse-loving sport (and I don't deny that there are people who watch it for the horses themselves or to see how many Hispanic jockeys there are).
For the Christian, I have some food for thought, and while I am not so stupid as to simply tout, as true as it may be, that "gambling is a sin" like some believers will blatantly state, I will pose several questions to the Christian pondering this issue, keeping in mind that it is true that the Bible has more to say about money and money management than any other topic, theological or otherwise (God, in His wisdom, I am sure, knew that money management would be an issue for people):
First and foremost, what does it say about your faith in God providing for your needs when you are trying to take a shortcut to what is supposedly easy money, rather than rely on Him to supply your needs? What does it say about your willingness to believe God's promises such as Matthew 6:25-34 (one of my favourite Scripture passages of all time) which indicates for people not to worry (and these sentiments are all from Jesus' own mouth) when you decide to play the lottery? Jesus says that our Heavenly Father takes care of the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field, and He certainly cares more for people than these other things. In the book of Malachi, it is the only place where God has ever explicity asked people to test Him. Guess what He asked to be tested about? Money! As a personal note, my wife and I can absolutely attest to God's goodness when we had our son, and she went on mat leave and our monthly budget showed that we were going to be taking a financial hit month after month to no end. Well, several amazing things happened during that time where it was really a leap of faith to trust God in light of what we thought was contrary evidence - not only did He take care of our needs, He surprised us by supplying more than enough so even during those times, we had money to put away in mutual funds, etc. (some of the things that happened will astonish you and I am convinced there is no other explanation than God's providence). When we are in a tight financial crunch, I look back and know that God indeed takes care of us, and so when I am telling you this, I am not just paying lip service here - I truly believe this myself!
The Bible warns against dishonest gain and not working for one's wage (I'll have to look up the passages for these ones, but trust me they are there - it's just getting late and I'm starting to doze off here). The fact of the matter is, like it or not, God has given us the ability to work, and working for one's money (obviously in legal ways) is honouring to Him. Not really wanting to work for money, or taking shortcuts in making money is not, and it's been shown in several places in the Bible. There is even a certain expectation that we work - I believe it's in 2 Thessalonians 3 that it says if we don't work, we don't eat. Likewise, being good stewards of the money that God entrusted to us is absolutely important. I think there's not much of a difference between gambling away the money to which God has entrusted you, and and farting the money away on absolutely stupid things (which I have been guilty of doing many times).
The Bible models wise investing through its accounts of Biblical people and through Jesus' parables. The book of Proverbs are full of examples of making wise decisions, taking time to plan, not rushing into things, etc.
Now, people may argue, what's the difference between putting money into a charity lottery and putting money into your kid's school fundraiser? I am not here to draw out lines in every situation, but I'd encourage you to ask yourself at those times: why I am I putting money into this? Am I expecting money back?
If not, well, I'd say you have nothing to worry about.
If so, ask yourself if this a wise investstment - ie. is it likely that my investment will grow as a result? In gambling, the odds are always against you and you are almost certainly always going to lose money, since the whole system only works if there are an overwhelming ratio of losers to winners. When people give to their kids' fundraising efforts, they are not expecting any money back - so it is considered a gift of charity. The child or their school wins as a result with added funds for programs, and you win since you are helping them out with a gift. If you are putting money into any kind of raffle or lottery, you are essentially wanting something back (otherwise, you would give through non-lottery channels), and you are giving to a system where the odds are against you.
Another question that has been raised, and for which I haven't spent an enormous amount of time thinking about, is the whole idea of signing up for stuff which gives away money and prizes but you don't have to put down any money. I would say that it's not gambling, since what is being gambled here? You're probably exposing your address, email and contact info to telemarketing companies, but because you're not putting in your own money towards an odd-on losing proposition, I wouldn't consider it gambling, though some people would still say it's not working so it's kind of lazy. As I haven't really worked out this in my mind, it would be foolish for me to comment further.
The next one is interesting - and again, I haven't thought this through, so this may not make sense (and I'm exhausted right now) - how about "friendly wagers" between people? Again, I look at it whether there is any money being put in? If so, then I'd say it is gambling but then again, most people make these wagers with some semblance of control over what they are wagering. For instance, if I were to bet you $20.00 that I would beat you in arm wrestling, I'd have to be an idiot to do so if I didn't think I could beat you. However, since it is never really guaranteed, you are still playing the unknown card, and as such, it is probably likely siding on the gambling definition. If it's one of those "whoever wins this game will buy the other one dinner" - I don't consider that gambling per se, but again, I haven't thought through this one as I said. Maybe when I'm more awake, I'll run this scenario through again.
Now, I don't distinugish levels of gambling, since gambling is gambling and I don't think there is such a thing as innocent gambling, even at many church-affiliated bingo halls where I am amazed that senior citizens (with generally fixed incomes which generally mean less disposable money to throw out) fart their money away under the guise of fun and fellowship. I also am not one to rank sins, since the Bible does not indicate certain sins being lesser or more than others, though of course, the consequences of sins will differ in their severity. In the end, it is really between you and God, but the Bible does have quite a bit to say about how to gain wealth and properity in a God honouring way, but sorry to say, gambling is not one of them.
Many, many years ago, when we had many more employees at work than we do now, they started a lottery pool (which exists to this day), as typical in many corporate offices, and people pitched in. When I was asked to participate, I politely declined. It wasn't until a few years later that someone approached me and asked why I didn't participate. I simply told them I don't gamble, and they said, "it's not gambling". Well, what can I say? I respectfully disagreed, and responded that what do you call it when you put money into something where the odds are heavily against you that you will get anything back? In my view, this is the opposite of wise investing, where you put your money into something that generally appreciates in value and although there may be slight risk, the general trend of investments tend to rise (I know that there is a grey line here, since some investments are extremely volitile (ie. sector investments), while others are fairly sound (money market, bonds, etc.).
Aside from the addiction part and the documented broken marriages and families arising from gambling's worse by-products (this is not really the scope of this blog entry, so I won't touch it here), my biggest beef with gambling is that it plays on unrealistic hopes and dreams of peple. Notice how the lottery companies will spin this - "what would you do with a million dollars?" Or "imagine the freedom..." Problem is, the chance of winning anything is very, very, very remote. Unfortunately, some people will tend to be so desperate as to try to make money the easy way that they don't think through the process that is working against their favour. My Dad has always taught me that there's no such thing as easy money, and I have seen the truth in that. I literally know people who hinge their future hopes and retirement on "hopefully" winning the lottery. Until then, they keep working, but put away money into lottery tickets. Imagine what they would have if they actually had put that money away in mutual funds or some other appreciating investment, growing their money along the way.
These days, gambling does not simply take the form of slot machines and baccarrat tables at a casino. People can gamble online, through the lottery, sports betting, and the most disturbing trend, the charity lotteries. The justification here is "oh, but I'm supporting a good cause". OK then, how about you simply donate to that charity without going through the lottery? My educated guess is that nine out of ten people will not do that. And I think you know why - they are in it for themselves - to win cars or houses or whatever the charity is giving away via the lottery, under the guise of "supporting a good cause". No different than people giving to churches in order to get a tax receipt (the question is whether you would give to your church if there was no tax benefits for yoruself?) It's sort of like horse racing. I was flipping channels one weekend while my son was sleeping and saw the Kentucky Derby coverage, even though I don't follow horse sports at all. I find it absolutely laughable that they participate in such a ritual like singing some silly song and then watching horses run for less than a 5 minutes. But the place is packed, and you know why? Everyone there is betting on the horses. Take betting out, and how many people would spend a couple of minutes (literally) watching horses run around for the fun of it? Yet, the Derby (and the other Triple Crown events) are made out to be some horse-loving sport (and I don't deny that there are people who watch it for the horses themselves or to see how many Hispanic jockeys there are).
For the Christian, I have some food for thought, and while I am not so stupid as to simply tout, as true as it may be, that "gambling is a sin" like some believers will blatantly state, I will pose several questions to the Christian pondering this issue, keeping in mind that it is true that the Bible has more to say about money and money management than any other topic, theological or otherwise (God, in His wisdom, I am sure, knew that money management would be an issue for people):
First and foremost, what does it say about your faith in God providing for your needs when you are trying to take a shortcut to what is supposedly easy money, rather than rely on Him to supply your needs? What does it say about your willingness to believe God's promises such as Matthew 6:25-34 (one of my favourite Scripture passages of all time) which indicates for people not to worry (and these sentiments are all from Jesus' own mouth) when you decide to play the lottery? Jesus says that our Heavenly Father takes care of the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field, and He certainly cares more for people than these other things. In the book of Malachi, it is the only place where God has ever explicity asked people to test Him. Guess what He asked to be tested about? Money! As a personal note, my wife and I can absolutely attest to God's goodness when we had our son, and she went on mat leave and our monthly budget showed that we were going to be taking a financial hit month after month to no end. Well, several amazing things happened during that time where it was really a leap of faith to trust God in light of what we thought was contrary evidence - not only did He take care of our needs, He surprised us by supplying more than enough so even during those times, we had money to put away in mutual funds, etc. (some of the things that happened will astonish you and I am convinced there is no other explanation than God's providence). When we are in a tight financial crunch, I look back and know that God indeed takes care of us, and so when I am telling you this, I am not just paying lip service here - I truly believe this myself!
The Bible warns against dishonest gain and not working for one's wage (I'll have to look up the passages for these ones, but trust me they are there - it's just getting late and I'm starting to doze off here). The fact of the matter is, like it or not, God has given us the ability to work, and working for one's money (obviously in legal ways) is honouring to Him. Not really wanting to work for money, or taking shortcuts in making money is not, and it's been shown in several places in the Bible. There is even a certain expectation that we work - I believe it's in 2 Thessalonians 3 that it says if we don't work, we don't eat. Likewise, being good stewards of the money that God entrusted to us is absolutely important. I think there's not much of a difference between gambling away the money to which God has entrusted you, and and farting the money away on absolutely stupid things (which I have been guilty of doing many times).
The Bible models wise investing through its accounts of Biblical people and through Jesus' parables. The book of Proverbs are full of examples of making wise decisions, taking time to plan, not rushing into things, etc.
Now, people may argue, what's the difference between putting money into a charity lottery and putting money into your kid's school fundraiser? I am not here to draw out lines in every situation, but I'd encourage you to ask yourself at those times: why I am I putting money into this? Am I expecting money back?
If not, well, I'd say you have nothing to worry about.
If so, ask yourself if this a wise investstment - ie. is it likely that my investment will grow as a result? In gambling, the odds are always against you and you are almost certainly always going to lose money, since the whole system only works if there are an overwhelming ratio of losers to winners. When people give to their kids' fundraising efforts, they are not expecting any money back - so it is considered a gift of charity. The child or their school wins as a result with added funds for programs, and you win since you are helping them out with a gift. If you are putting money into any kind of raffle or lottery, you are essentially wanting something back (otherwise, you would give through non-lottery channels), and you are giving to a system where the odds are against you.
Another question that has been raised, and for which I haven't spent an enormous amount of time thinking about, is the whole idea of signing up for stuff which gives away money and prizes but you don't have to put down any money. I would say that it's not gambling, since what is being gambled here? You're probably exposing your address, email and contact info to telemarketing companies, but because you're not putting in your own money towards an odd-on losing proposition, I wouldn't consider it gambling, though some people would still say it's not working so it's kind of lazy. As I haven't really worked out this in my mind, it would be foolish for me to comment further.
The next one is interesting - and again, I haven't thought this through, so this may not make sense (and I'm exhausted right now) - how about "friendly wagers" between people? Again, I look at it whether there is any money being put in? If so, then I'd say it is gambling but then again, most people make these wagers with some semblance of control over what they are wagering. For instance, if I were to bet you $20.00 that I would beat you in arm wrestling, I'd have to be an idiot to do so if I didn't think I could beat you. However, since it is never really guaranteed, you are still playing the unknown card, and as such, it is probably likely siding on the gambling definition. If it's one of those "whoever wins this game will buy the other one dinner" - I don't consider that gambling per se, but again, I haven't thought through this one as I said. Maybe when I'm more awake, I'll run this scenario through again.
Now, I don't distinugish levels of gambling, since gambling is gambling and I don't think there is such a thing as innocent gambling, even at many church-affiliated bingo halls where I am amazed that senior citizens (with generally fixed incomes which generally mean less disposable money to throw out) fart their money away under the guise of fun and fellowship. I also am not one to rank sins, since the Bible does not indicate certain sins being lesser or more than others, though of course, the consequences of sins will differ in their severity. In the end, it is really between you and God, but the Bible does have quite a bit to say about how to gain wealth and properity in a God honouring way, but sorry to say, gambling is not one of them.
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